Anhang	Größe
ConferenceProgramLegalEducation.pdf	9.07 KB

Multisensory Law and Legal Education

Colette R. Brunschwig

Currently, there is an intense debate in the legal discourse as to whether and how to reform legal education.

In the preface of his book entitled “Transforming Legal Education, Learning and Teaching the Law in the Twenty-first Century,” Paul Maharg (University of Strathclyde, UK) addresses his readers with the following question, “A thought experiment: if you were to design a completely new law school, what would it look like? How would you design the curriculum? How would staff teach? What would students learn?” (Maharg, P., Transforming Legal Education, Learning and Teaching the Law in the Early Twenty-first Century, Burlington, VT, 2007)

Another quote of DeGroff/McKee might be of interest to you: “In the first phase, students absorb information through their senses. Verbal learners, for example, are effective at absorbing information through written text. Because information in law school is provided largely through printed texts, adept verbal learners are typically strong law students. Visual learners, who are typically right-brained, holistic thinkers, tend to absorb information ‘in its entirety, rather than in parts,’ and in the form of pictures or impressions. Oral learners absorb material most effectively by talking it out; they are most likely to be successful when they have the opportunity to participate frequently and voluntarily in classroom discussions. Aural learners absorb material most effectively by listening and typically thrive when exposed to lectures, class or group discussions, or recordings. Tactile, or kinaesthetic, learners benefit from physical touch or practical application and typically enjoy simulation courses or externship experiences.” (DeGroff, E. A./McKee, K. A., Learning like Lawyers: Addressing the Differences in Law Student Learning Styles, Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal (499) 2006, 499–550 (512)) (see also http://www.law2.byu.edu/jel/index.php; last accessed on November 10, 2010)

Despite this and other most valuable research, there are still many problems that would need to be solved. For instance, there are knowledge gaps as regards the relationship between the theory and practice of legal education and multisensory law.

Therefore, two key questions need to be tackled: 1. How could or rather should multisensory law and its branches such as auditory law, visual law, audio-visual law, tactile-kinesthetic law contribute to reforming the theory and practice of legal education; 2. How could or rather rather should multisensory law and its branches be taught at law schools? With regard to the first question, one could specifically ask how could or should legal education be transformed so that it would possibly involve all or many senses of those who communicate the law (law teachers) and of those who receive it (law students).

On Friday, November 12, 2010, and on Saturday, November 13, 2010, the “Diskussionsforum Juristische Hochschuldidaktik des Recht Aktiv-Projekts” of the Department of Law, University of Koeln, Germany, and the “Institut für Wissenschafts- und Bildungsforschung,” Bielefeld, Germany, will hold a panel on “Juristische Hochschuldidaktik” (legal didactics for legal education at law schools).

For further information, I would like to refer you to the conference program (see attachment).

Hinweise zur bestehenden Moderationspraxis
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